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Exploring Searle's Piano Sonata Exploring Humphrey Searle’s Piano Sonata By John France Introduction. Music historians are doubly lucky in possessing two primary sources for understanding Humphrey Searle’s Piano Sonata, op. 21 (1951). The first is his unpublished autobiography, Quadrille with a Raven, written between 1976 and his death in 1982, which is available on the MWI website. The other is the programme note that he wrote for the premiere performance of his Sonata in 1951. In his memoirs (Chapter 11), Searle explained that the Australian pianist, Gordon Watson ‘intended to celebrate the 140th birthday of [Franz] Liszt, 22 October 1951, by performing the Transcendental Studies complete in the Wigmore Hall.’ Watson had asked the composer for a new Sonata for him to play at this recital. Searle wrote that he ‘decided to write a virtuoso piece - fiendishly difficult…more or less in the form of the Liszt B minor sonata but in a twelve-note idiom.’ It was an act of homage to the Hungarian master. As he composed the Sketch by Gerard Hoffnung music, he sent it to Watson, ‘piece by piece’. Watson later told him that ‘if he had received the whole sonata at one go, he would have despaired of ever learning it.’ There was an eerie backdrop to the composition of this Sonata. Searle elucidates: ‘While I was writing this work I had a very curious experience; three times while the music was progressing in a certain direction something told me to stop and write something completely different, and each time I heard the next day of the death of someone with whom I was connected, either as a colleague or a friend.’ The three who died were Arnold Schoenberg, Constant Lambert, and Cecil Gray. Searle had adopted the serial techniques of Schoenberg and later translated the important biography of the elder composer, written by Hans Heinz Stuckenschmidt (Schoenberg - His Life, World and Work, John Calder, 1974/1977). Constant Lambert had ‘first revealed to [him] the true greatness of Liszt.’ Lambert was a well-respected conductor, composer, author, and friend. Searle would become an expert on the Hungarian master, and later wrote a book about him (Music of Liszt, Dover, 1954, rev.1966). Finally, Cecil Gray was a composer, critic and author and casual friend of Searle. Programme Notes The following is a descriptive discussion of Searle’s Piano Sonata, not an analysis. It is based on the composer’s own programme note, written for the premiere performance. The Sonata is a fusion of the Lisztian idea of ‘thematic transformation’ with the twelve-tone methods of Arnold Schoenberg. Searle reminds the listener that the latter used thematic transformations, by way of serialism. Grove’s Dictionary defines ‘thematic transformation’ as ‘a term used to define the process of modifying a theme, so that in a new context it is different but yet manifestly made of the same elements; a variant term is ‘thematic metamorphosis’’. Commenting on this process, Humphrey Searle (1966, p.61) suggests that ‘the serial methods of Schoenberg, for instance, use precisely the methods of Liszt's thematic transformation within the framework of an entirely different [musical] language.’ So, based on Searle’s admiration for these two composers, it is hardly surprising that the Piano Sonata is a fusion of both constructive principles. Searle’s Piano Sonata is conceived in a single movement, divided into contrasting sections. Four elements form the constructive material of the Sonata and are first presented in the ‘exposition.’ These are the opening three-note ‘Lento’ phrase (Db, F, A), the rising theme of the ‘Allegro’ which MusicWeb International October 2020 Exploring Searle’s Piano Sonata immediately follows, a figure consisting of repeated semiquaver chords, and finally, the material of the second ‘lento section.’ After several broad opening bars forming the exposition, the music passes into a short ‘scherzo’ before leading into the ‘development’ section played ‘Allegro risoluto.’ Without a pause, the slow ‘Andante’ is written in standard ternary form, ending with a cadenza. This leads into the second ‘scherzo’, followed by the recapitulation of the opening theme (Allegro risoluto). Both scherzos have acted as interludes: the first exploits notes in the bass register of the piano, whilst the second uses the top notes. The Sonata ends with a sinister coda, that has the character of a ‘recitative’ played ‘lento.’ It is important to note that, like most ‘serial’ works, few listeners can aurally follow all the permutations of the series as the Sonata progresses. A score, paper and pencil and a lot of time and skill are needed to unravel all the ‘changes and chances’ of the underlying structural material. What is clear, is the inherent unity of purpose underlying this Piano Sonata. The Premiere The premiere of Humphrey Searle’s Piano Sonata, op.21 was given at a recital at the Wigmore Hall, London, on Monday 22 October 1951. The concert programme declared that it was ‘On the Occasion of the 140th Anniversary of Liszt’s Birth.’ The soloist was the Australian pianist Gordon Watson (1921-1999). Two works were performed: Franz Liszt’s Études d'exécution transcendante (1852) and, after the interval, Searle’s Sonata. The composer recalled in his memoirs that ‘Gordon Watson's performances of the Transcendental Studies and my Sonata were very successful, and both he and I got good notices in the Press.’ (Searle, Quadrille, Chapter 11.) It was a surprise to read that Gordon Watson was ‘distinctly more eloquent in [his] account of Searle’s Sonata than he was in the Liszt Transcendental Studies. The critic of the long-running journal The Stage (25 October 1951, p.12) insisted that only ‘the utmost technical mastery and all the dramatic and rhetorical resources of the grandest romantic style can give [both] these pieces their proper effect.’ As for the Studies, ‘although the young Australian pianist’ - he was 30 at the time – ‘displayed a technique of exceptional facility, neither his execution nor his style could truly be called transcendent.’ The following Monday, The Times (29 October 1951, p.2) reported that Gordon Watson ‘stormed high heaven with Liszt’s 12 Transcendental Studies.’ He noted that the pianist ‘dropped a wrong note here and there’ in this work but this was balanced by ‘his technique [which] was fully competent to display the craftsmanship, invention and imagination in these hair-raising studies.’ The reviewer, possibly Frank Howes, recalled that Searle’s Sonata ‘owes some of its design and textures to Liszt’s B minor work’, and that part of its ‘impulse’ was to the memory of Arnold Schoenberg, Cecil Gray and Constant Lambert. The power of the Sonata ‘is quite individual, suffused with darkling elegiac poetry and commanding thought; brilliantly scored, it was brilliantly played by Mr Watson, whose memory is evidently equal to his courage and virtuosity.’ MusicWeb International p2 Exploring Searle’s Piano Sonata The Musical Times (December 1951, p.563) A.P. (Andrew Porter) considered that Searle’s Sonata was ‘the most important new work’ heard during October 1951. Remarking Gordon Watson’s performance of the Liszt Studies, he felt that it was ‘marked by an astonishing technical facility and by a poetical feeling for the writing which made one forgive wrong notes.’ Noting Searle’s fusion of Lisztian Transformations with Schoenbergian serialism, he feels that ‘it was not surprising to find in the Sonata an affecting beauty; at any rate it would be surprising only to those who regard the twelve-note system of Schoenberg as a purely intellectual device.’ In conclusion Porter highlighted the ‘passages of brilliant pianistic excitement, and passages of lyrical emotion.’ His overall impression on a first hearing was that ‘it seemed a fine work and left one waiting for its second performance.’ The Score The score of Searle’s Piano Sonata was published by Oxford University Press in 1952. It was priced 10/6d. At today’s prices that would be about £34. The holograph was completed between June and September 1951. The date of the work’s premiere is included in the frontispiece, as well as noting that Gordon Watson had made a recording of the Sonata on Argo ATC 1002, 12 inch (long playing). The score is inscribed ‘For the 140th Birthday of Franz Liszt, 22 October 1951’. A review of the score was included in Music and Letters (April 1953, p.174). The critic began by admitting his review was not based on ‘a personal performance with any pretensions to accuracy’, as it would have taken ‘weeks so to familiarize oneself with the notes that one could begin to tackle the technical problems of playing them.’ So, use was made of Gordon Watson’s recording to assess this Sonata. The impression is given that I.K. does not warm to ‘serial music.’ He wonders if Humphrey Searle ‘gains inspiration from wrestling with his note rows, or whether his fervour and technique enable him to carry the mill-stone (presumably serial technique) like a banner is perhaps neither here nor there, for this Sonata makes a thoroughly convincing impression of power and necessity.’ I.K. reminds readers that the Sonata is ‘a worthy monument to [Liszt] for whom [Searle] has already done much.’ Importantly, he considers that the elder composer’s concept of ‘thematic transformation’ finds its consummation in the twelve-note technique. Finally, three other features of Searle’s Sonata share Liszt’s qualities: ‘the dauntlessly leaping contours, an urgent and extravagant dramatic sense and a sure feeling for the sound of the instrument.’ The last thought is the observation that this Sonata is for ‘professional pianists only.’ Controversially, I.K. suggests that Searle’s Sonata is not as difficult as Liszt’s example.
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